The present invention relates generally to providing a connection to a data network. More particularly, the present invention relates to providing a connection between a calling station and a data network via a voice network node resulting from the dialing of a predetermined access number, or via another type of local access node, such as a cable television network node.
The Internet is a data network which is greatly increasing in popularity. There are various ways of connecting to the Internet. Many larger businesses have local area networks which are directly connected to the Internet such that computers on the local area network can gain access to the Internet. However, such a direct connection to the Internet is expensive and therefore not available to small businesses and individuals. As an alternative to the direct connection, there are Internet Service Providers (ISP), which provide access to the Internet via dial-up connections. Currently, an ISP will have a point of presence (POP), which is a network node directly connected to the Internet. The POP is accessible by subscribers to the ISP by a dial-up connection. Thus, a person wanting to connect to the Internet places a modem call to a telephone number assigned to the POP, the call gets routed to the POP, and the POP acts as the gateway to the Internet for the subscriber""s computer. The ISP stores information regarding connection time for each of its subscribers for billing purposes. ISP subscribers are generally billed on a flat rate basis, a connection time basis, or some combination of flat rate and connection time.
If the POP is within the subscriber""s local calling area, then the subscriber is charged for a local telephone call and the dial-up connection is generally routed from the local telephone company switch to the POP. However, when a subscriber is travelling away from home, the telephone call to the POP may result in a long distance call which will result in higher long distance charges. Further, the dial-up call may be routed via several telephone network switches prior to reaching the POP, thus tying up valuable telephone network resources. This long distance routing is generally inefficient for the telephone network, because there is often an Internet connection available to the travelling subscriber which is closer than the subscriber""s home POP. However, since these POPs are operated by other ISPs, the subscriber does not have access to them. In some instances, the travelling subscriber""s ISP may have a POP which is local to the location of the travelling subscriber. However, in order to access such a local POP, the subscriber must know the telephone number for dial-up access to that POP. It is inconvenient for the subscriber to remember the different telephone numbers of all the POPs operated by his/her ISP.
The problem of multiple telephone numbers for information service providers has been addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,146. That patent describes a method for automatically routing calls to customer selected information sources using a dedicated short access number (e.g. 3-digit N11 number). When an N11 number is received by the telephone switch, it triggers special processing of the call. Based on prestored selection data and/or interaction with the user, the call is routed to an appropriate information service provider. This technique is limited to the problem of connecting to information service providers which are directly connected to the telephone network. Thus, the technique described in the ""146 patent merely automates the step of determining the correct telephone number to call to access a particular information service provider. Once the telephone number is determined, the call is routed to that information service provider via the telephone network in a conventional manner. In contrast, in one aspect, the present invention is concerned with the problem of connecting a subscriber calling from the telephone network to a separate data network, such as the Internet. The Internet information service providers are not directly available via a telephone call as are the service providers described in the ""146 patent.
Thus, there is a need for an improved technique for connecting a computer to a data network via the telephone network, or via another type of local access node, such as a cable television network node.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a voice network node is configured to recognize the receipt of a data network access number (e.g., internet access number) from a subscriber terminal, and in response, to initiate a connection between the subscriber terminal and a data network (e.g., Internet). The data network access number may be a non-routable number of the format X11. The voice network node may initiate the connection to the data network by connecting to the data network from one of its own output ports, or by routing the call to one or more other voice network nodes and connecting to the data network from an output port of one of the other voice network nodes.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, upon receipt of the data network access number, the subscriber is requested to enter subscriber information for authentication purposes. Only if the subscriber is authenticated does the voice network node initiate a connection to the data network. In accordance with one advantage of the invention, part of the subscriber information entered by the subscriber is an identification of the data network service provider with which the subscriber has a data network access account. The voice network node performing the authentication uses this identification to determine the correct data network service provider with which to authenticate the current subscriber. In this manner, various subscribers can access the data network via this voice network node, even if these various subscribers have data network access accounts with different data network service providers.
The invention also provides for advantageous billing arrangements. In accordance with this aspect of the invention, the voice network node records connection information for each data network access session for which it is providing, or for which it has initiated, a physical connection to the data network. Upon termination of the connection, the connection information is sent to the subscriber""s data network service provider. This allows for the proper billing of the subscriber by the data network service provider. It also allows for revenue sharing between the data network service provider and the company operating the nodes which provided the physical connection to the data network.
In various embodiments, the steps to be performed in accordance with the inventive technique are performed by a single network node or in a distributed fashion by multiple network nodes. The single network node, or one or more of the nodes in the multiple network node embodiment, may be a local telephone switch. Further, multiple local telephone switches may be configured to recognize the data network access number and upon receipt, to initiate a connection to the data network. In this manner, a subscriber may request connection to the data network using the same data network access number even if the subscriber is away from home.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, the subscriber terminal can obtain access to the data network via a local connection to another type of network, such as a cable television network. In this embodiment, the subscriber terminal does not place a telephone call, so the aspects of the invention related to the data network access number do not apply to this embodiment. However, the authentication and billing aspects of the invention apply to this embodiment.
These and other advantages of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.